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Head of Aurora VA’s prosthetics department canceled veterans’ orders to eliminate backlog, ex-employees allege

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

In 2021, an employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Aurora alerted leadership to a troubling practice within the federal agency’s Eastern Colorado Health Care System, a vast network providing services for 100,000 veterans.The whistleblower worked for the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service, which supplies military veterans with artificial limbs, wheelchairs, surgical implants, glasses, hearing aids and other devices to help them live more functional lives.Many veterans, however, weren’t getting these services for up to a year — or at all, the whistleblower alleged. That’s because the head of the prosthetics department, Norma Mestas, was directing staff to delete orders as if they had never come in, three former employees who worked in the department told The Denver Post. The motive, they said: reduce wait times and backlogs to make it look as though the department was operating smoothly.The orders, up to 2,500 at one point, would remain untouched ...

Uinta Basin Railway is on pause, but another Utah project stokes worries along Colorado River about more oil trains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

A proposed railway project that would bring a surge in the amount of oil transported along the Colorado River is on hold, but Colorado communities and lawmakers are now concerned about a different Utah project that would increase crude transports through the state.The proposed expansion of a rail transport facility could result in the shipping of a billion more gallons of oil each year on trains that run along the critical water source. At the Wildcat Loadout facility in northeastern Utah, waxy crude oil extracted from the Uinta Basin is transferred from trucks to trains that carry the substance east through Colorado to be refined on the Gulf Coast.If approved by the federal Bureau of Land Management, the expansion could more than triple the amount of oil transported from the facility from 1.3 million gallons per day to 4.2 million.Communities along the rail line, environmental groups and some members of Colorado’s congressional delegation have expressed concern about the pote...

Pandemic derailed Colorado’s population growth. Can the state get back on track?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

Colorado’s population is growing at its slowest pace on record, with domestic net migration turning negative last year and the population declines long seen on the Eastern Plains taking hold in one large Front Range county.Time will tell if the slowdown is temporary, as state demographers predict, or the start of a new trend. But Colorado’s ability to attract newcomers carries huge implications for its economic future, from filling open jobs to providing care for the surging number of older residents.“If we don’t see population growth, if we don’t see that net migration, we will absolutely have a decline in our working-age population,” said Colorado State Demographer Elizabeth Garner at the 2023 State Demography Summit, which was held this month in Littleton.Colorado gained 26,442 residents in the 12 months through July 1, 2021, and another 27,710 through July 2022, according to the demography office’s Vintage 2022 Population Estimates. Last decade, pop...

Denver Health’s STEP program provides substance use treatment to adolescents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

Sofya Hawrylyshyn has been sober since March — a milestone the 19-year-old attributes to Denver Health’s adolescent substance abuse treatment program, which she joined last year.Hawrylyshyn, who had depression and anxiety, began using drugs in high school and engaged in self-harm. Her parents, who weren’t sure what to do, sent her to a wilderness therapy program in Utah and then a therapeutic boarding school in Montana.But it was Denver Health’s Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention program — or STEP — that offered Hawrylyshyn the consistency she said she needed with weekly therapy appointments and regular drug screenings.“It really started from realizing I deserve better for myself and I deserve to feel good about living,” Hawrylyshyn said.STEP provides substance use treatment to adolescents and is in at least 10 school-based health clinics in Denver Public Schools, said Crystal Potter Rivera, executive director of the Denver Health Foundation.Substa...

How Do Third-Party Lab Technicians Scan CBD Products?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

Read the original article about How Third-Party Lab Technicians Scan CBD Products at Real Tested CBD.Real Tested CBD always stresses the importance of getting quality third-party lab tests with your CBD oil. Although many customers understand why they should place a great emphasis on Certificates of Analysis (COAs), it’s common to have questions about the accuracy of these tests. How can scientists tell the precise ratio of compounds in various hemp extracts? Are some CBD testing procedures better than others?Although CBD lab analysis can get pretty technical, we’ll do our best to explain the top techniques accredited labs now use to determine a CBD oil’s purity.The Specifics On CBD Screenings — A Beginner’s Guide To CBD Lab AnalysisThere are a few ways technicians could figure out what’s in a CBD product, but “High-Performance Liquid Chromatography” (HPLC) is the industry standard. While that may sound super complex, HPLC is basically a procedure that involves exposing CBD oil to a...

Failing Phoenix: Santa Clara County knew of parents’ drug use, previous neglect and ‘very high’ risks leading up to baby’s fentanyl death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

SAN JOSE – Looking back, it was hard to miss the signs that foretold the tragedy of Phoenix Castro’s short life.Two months before the baby’s birth, her pregnant mother and father submitted to a drug test as part of a safety plan to get their two older children back from Santa Clara County’s child welfare agency.Their tests both came back positive — for opiates, cocaine and methamphetamine.The day after Phoenix was born with neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms, a social worker was called to the hospital to determine whether the baby would be safe with her troubled family in the two-bedroom apartment off Blossom Hill Road in South San Jose.The result of that assessment, revealed in nearly 200 pages of documents obtained this week by the Bay Area News Group, sounded an alarm in the starkest terms:Neglect Risk Level: Very High.Abuse Risk Level: High.Final Risk Level: Very High.But even another dire warning from a social worker overseeing the case of the couple’s two older children wasn’...

APEC trade summit, high-level ‘schmoozing’ put Bay Area in spotlight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

Presidents, prime ministers and prominent CEOs are gathering this week in San Francisco for two Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summits to forge and strengthen trade relationships among the 21 member countries — while local business groups hold piggy-back events and thousands of protesters prepare to disrupt the proceedings under a global spotlight.The APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, which runs through Friday, is being promoted as the largest gathering of world leaders in the city since 1945. Heads of state from member countries, including President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are set to attend, with about 1,200 CEOs and nearly 30,000 delegates from governments and organizations expected for the summits.The influx, with security measures including road closures and checkpoints, will restrict movement within the city and is expected to snarl traffic.The complementary CEO Summit running Tuesday through Thursday will provide the Bay Area with rare opportunities to ...

MLB owners will vote this week on Oakland A’s bid to move to Las Vegas; here’s what’s happened and what’s next

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

After a summer of reverse boycotts and “SELL THE TEAM” chants, Oakland A’s fans this week are bracing to hear the words they’ve been dreading for months: MLB owners have approved the A’s relocation to Las Vegas.Tuesday, all 30 owners will gather in Arlington, Texas, for the winter owner’s meetings. At the top of the agenda is the A’s pending move, with a vote expected to come at the end of the week.If 75 percent of the owners (23 of them) approve the vote, owner John Fisher will have cleared a major hurdle in his efforts to move the A’s after 55 years in Oakland. The vote is expected to pass.“It’s the next step,” said David Samson, the former president of the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins who was involved with relocation efforts for both teams. “It’s a step. It’s not the final step. Even with a relocation approval vote, that doesn’t mean Oakland is losing its team.“What they will approve is for the A’s to relocate to Las Vegas. But that’s not baseb...

Dear Abby: These men hijacked our sentimental lunch. Am I wrong to be upset?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

DEAR ABBY: After my husband’s younger brother recently passed away, the family gathered. When one group of nephews arrived in a city an hour away from us, we were invited to lunch. (The restaurant was where the nephews had first been introduced to beer by their now-deceased uncle.)Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: The bride is my best friend, but I’m not comfortable with her plan Advice | Dear Abby: At 3 a.m. there were two strange girls in my house Advice | Dear Abby: My son is in tears when my mother tells him he must walk Advice | Dear Abby: The thoughtless grandchildren won’t be happy about this gift Advice | Dear Abby: I like to video people who are behaving badly My husband didn’t want to go, saying it was silly to drive that far for one meal. I persuaded him to go, to celebrate family ties and spend time with these nephews we seldom see.When we arrived, one of the nephews...

Patriots LB Ja’Whaun Bentley inactive against Colts in Frankfurt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:52:52 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley was inactive for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.Bentley misses the game because of a hamstring injury, after playing in all nine of New England’s previous games this season.Rookie Colts wide receiver Josh Downs is active after he had been listed as questionable and hadn’t practiced because of a knee injury. Cornerback Jack Jones and wide receiver Demario Douglas had been questionable but are active for the Patriots.Indianapolis’ inactives were guard Arlington Hambright, center Jack Anderson, linebacker Cameron McGrone, tight end Drew Ogletree and cornerback CB JuJu Brents. Ogletree and Brents had been ruled out with injuries earlier in the week.New England’s inactives were CB Alex Austin, DE Sam Roberts, emergency third-choice quarterback Will Grier, WR DeVante Parker, OT Trent Brown and CB J.C. Jackson. Parker remains out with concussion, and Brown didn’t make the ...